DragonForce
DragonForce is an English Power Metal band from London, that was formed in 1999. It is known for its fast guitar solos, fantasy-based lyrics, and electronic sounds in their music to add to their retro video game-influenced sound. Band History Formation (1999) The band was formed in 1999 by the guitarists Herman Li and Sam Totman after they had left Demoniac. Herman and Sam later found singer ZP Theart through an advert, drummer Matej Setinc, bassist Steve Scott and keyboardist Steve Williams. Sam and Herman were originally in the Black and power metal band, Demoniac, along with Lindsay Dawson. Initially the band intended to call themselves DragonHeart, released a demo, toured with , and headline their own show under that name. However, the band later found that already existed and changed their named to DragonForce in 2002. Drummer Matej Setinc (just like Li and Totman, was also a former member of Demoniac) left Dragonforce in December 1999 in order to continue his studies in Slovenia, Matej was replaced by Didier Almouzni. DragonForce parted ways with Steve Scott in November 2000 and Steve Williams in early 2000. Steve later rejoined and left once again in December 2000, days head of DragonForce's tour with "Halford" and "Stratovarius". The bassist Diccon Harper joined DragonForce in November 2000 with keyboardist Vadim Pruzhanov joining in February 2001 to complete the lineup for recording their first album. Harper left DragonForce in 2002 but played on the band's debut album, Valley of the Damned, as a session player. Valley of the Damned (2000-2003) DragonHeart (what the band was known as at the time) recorded their very first album in 2000 (as a demo). It was an autonomous release, however it was enough to make them one of the most popular independent power metal bands in the UK at the time. Even though the demo didn't include the songs Black Fire and Heart of a Dragon, the original versions of the two songs exist but are extremely rare due to being unreleased, along with the original version of "Evening Star" (which the original version was called "Lands of Desire"). Where Dragons Rule was included as a bonus track in the japanese version of the demo album, but it was a remastered version of the original. The original demo version is also extremely rare. It is rumored that Matej Setinc played in these four original versions, but has yet to be confirmed. Their song "Valley of the Damned" was released as their first single shortly after they permanently changed their name to DragonForce in December 2001. A promotional video featuring live footage from the band's tour around Europe was released along with the song. The song ws a huge success on MP3.com where it charted at #1 for two whole weeks as the most downloaded song. Shortly after the demo was released, Steve Williams and Steve Scott left and they were replaced by Vadim Pruzhanov and Diccon Harper. Williams later went on form the power metal band Power Quest. In 2003, DragonForce signed to Noise Records and begun recording their second released album and first full-length album, Valley of the Damned. The title track, re-released in promotion of the album, it is one of the most known DragonForce songs to date and it is a staple of their live performance to this day. The band's tour for Valley of the Damned lasted until 2004, with a performance in Tokyo, Japan. The Japan performance was the largest amount of people that the band had played for yet. The entire show was pro-shot to be released on a DVD, however it has not yet been released. Since this concert, the band has returned to the same venue every tour. Sonic Firestorm (2004-2005) DragonForce's follow-up album, Sonic Firestorm, proved to be even more successful with the lead single "Fury of the Storm". The album was the band's first album featuring Adrian Lambert on bass and Dave Mackintosh on drums. When Mackintosh entered the band in 2004, they began referring to their style of music as "extreme power metal" due to his fast blastbeats and double bass rhythms. It was around this time that DragonForce began becoming popular internationally and adopted nicknames such as "Bon Jovi on speed" and "Journey meets Slayer." The tour was much longer than DragonForce's recent tour for "Valley of the Damned" and featured many more headline shows than the previous. DragonForce toured with several well-known metal bands such as " " and " ". DragonForce began touring for their third album (not counting their 2000 demo album), "Inhuman Rampage" shortly after the Sonic Firestorm tour and several months before Inhuman Rampage was even released. It was shortly after this time that DragonForce played at Ozzfest. Inhuman Rampage (2006-2007) Dragonforce underwent various lineup changes before settling with the six current members. DragonForce was introduced to the mainstream with their fourth released album (third full-length album) "Inhuman Rampage", released in 2006 after signing with Roadrunner Records. The song "Through the Fire and Flames" is one of their most famous songs and is featured on the game as well as " ". Lindsay Dawson of Herman Li and Sam Totman's former band, "Demoniac", appeared as guest backup vocalist (referring to it as "guest harsh backing vocals") for Inhuman Rampage. Shortly after the release of Inhuman Rampage, bassist, Adrian Lambert, left the group to raise his newborn son. He was replaced with Frédéric Leclercq (the band's current bassist) for the tour. Frédéric later became an official member of DragonForce after the tour. Frédéric was also featured in DragonForce's music video for their second single off Inhuman Rampage, Operation Ground and Pound. Inhuman Rampage is a common favorite among DragonForce fans due to its heaviness and complexity. However the band also thanked Guitar Hero, Audiosurf and Ozzfest for a lot of their newfound fame. However, multiple people criticize Guitar Hero for putting [Pruzhanov|Vadim's intro keyboard solo as the opening guitar notes, which is true. It has yet to be confirmed why Guitar Hero had done that. Ultra Beatdown (2008-present) DragonForce toured with " ", " " and " " throughout the summer of 2008 on the Rockstar Energy Metal Mayhem Festival. DragonForce returned in the fall with the release of their fifth recorded album (fourth full-length), "Ultra Beatdown". The opening track and first single, "Heroes of Our Time", was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance on December 3, 2008, losing out to " " with their song " ". The single was also featured in the video games " " and " ". On January 22, 2009, the music video for their song "The Last Journey Home" was released to the Xbox Live Community a week before it was released online. The band will carry out the Ultra Beatdown tour in Latin America, North America and Europe. They were supposed to play in Latin America in May 2009, but the tour was postponed to late 2009. They will first perform at the Two Days a Week Festival in Weisen, Austria on September 4. Then, they will perform in several cities of Canada and United States from September 15 to October 11, with special guests Sonata Arctica and Taking Dawn. The next tour will be in Germany, from October 16 to October 30, followed by a single live performance in Luxembourg on October 31. Then, they will go to Latin America to perform in Curitiba, Porto Alegre, São Paulo, Mexico City, Santiago, Buenos Aires and Bogotá from November 6 to November 14. The final part of the tour will be entirely in the United Kingdom, from November 19 to December 12. ''New Album'' (2010 onward) Herman Li has stated that the band will stop touring in December, spend time at home for Christmas, and then will begin writing and recording a new studio album scheduled to be released in 2011. On February 22nd, 2010, DragonForce re-released their first two full-length albums, "Valley of the Damned" and "Sonic Firestorm." Valley of the Damned will include newly remixed and remastered tracks while both albums will include bonus tracks, updated packaging and DVDs featuring live footage, commentary, and more. Both albums will also be released in a box set which will feature a t-shirt, a card of guitar picks, and an inflatable guitar. On March 8, 2010, it was announced via Roadrunner that DragonForce had parted ways with vocalist ZP Theart and would now be seeking a new frontman. Herman Li had stated "It is with great regret that DragonForce announce a parting of the ways with singer ZP Theart. This is due to insurmountable differences of musical opinion but the rest of the band sincerely wishes ZP great success with his future projects. While the creative core members have begun writing the fifth album, they have also started a worldwide search for a new vocalist. We are looking for a powerful, melodic singer to write a new chapter of DragonForce with us." This story was removed the same day, but officially confirmed by the band a day later in a press statement that also contained a link to request an audition. Genre/Musical Style DragonForce have frequently referred to their style not just as "power metal", but as "Extreme Power Metal" (as in the game " ", DragonForce was listed under that same genre, "Extreme Power Metal", being the only band listed in that genre). Herman commented on descriptions of the band's style in an interview with Guitar World: "'Nintendo metal', 'extreme power metal', 'Bon Jovi on speed', 'Journey meets Slayer', ... people are always coming up with weird labels for us." DragonForce has sometimes been mislabeled as a "Speed Metal band" due to the fast tempos present in their songs, but always as a supplement to other types of metal descriptors. Spring 2009 Issue of Broken Records Magazine calls the band "Equal parts grandeur and Debauchery, Dragonforce doesn't do anything in less than over-the-top fashion." Controversy Controversy occurred in late 2006 shortly after the Inhuman Rampage tour went into full swing. On top of that, DragonForce had many technical difficulties with the guitars, which at the time was the most "stand-out feature" in their music. DragonForce also drop-tuned their instruments to E flat tuning for the first time. Herman Li stated, "Graspop Metal Meeting of 2006 was a total disaster. The technician we had back then didn't even tune the guitar, and no monitoring was done properly. We didn't hear anything...". He also said that most of the Inhuman Rampage tour was bad overall due to technical difficulties. Due to all this, the Graspop 2006 performance is considered DragonForce's worst performance and was enough to convince many DragonForce fans that they couldn't play live. Many rumors circulated around the internet that the band faked their music in the studio and the guitar solos were sped up. Although it has since been proven untrue, DragonForce still lost many fans due to these rumors. The gig also earned the band the nickname "Studioforce", meaning they relied on production for their full sound and couldn't play their own songs live, although later concerts have proven this false. Band Members Current members: :*Herman Li - Lead guitar, rhythm guitar, backing vocals (1999-present) :*Sam Totman - Rhythm guitar, lead guitar, backing vocals (1999-present) :*Frédéric Leclercq - Bass, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2005-present) :*Vadim Pruzhanov - Keyboards, backing vocals, keytar, theremin (2001-present) :*Dave Mackintosh - Drums, backing vocals (2004-present) Former members: :*ZP Theart - Lead vocals (1999-2010) :*Adrian Lambert - Bass (2004-2005) :*Didier Almouzni - Drums (late 1999-2003) :*Diccon Harper - Bass, backing vocals (2001-2003) :*Steve Williams - Keyboards, backing vocals (1999-2000) :*Steve Scott - Bass, backing vocals (1999-2000) :*Matej Setinc - Drums (1999-late 1999) Discography :*Valley of the Damned (Demo) (2000) :*Valley of the Damned (2003), Re-released February 22, 2010 (with remastered recordings of the album) :*Sonic Firestorm (2004); Re-released February 22, 2010 :*Inhuman Rampage (2006) :*Ultra Beatdown (2008) :*TBA; Sixth Album (2011) Trivia :*The band song, "Holy War" has been mistakenly labeled on YouTube as "Dragonforce - Holy War" but however nearly 97% of the comments are YouTube users telling the uploader to change it to Dragonland. :*There are Final Fantasy Advent Children AMVs of every DragonForce song. :*Songs by DragonForce are (at average) 7:00 in length. External Links/References *DragonForce Main Site *Sputnik Music *Formation of DragonForce Interview *DragonForce at Royal Artist Club *DragonForce's Official MySpace *DragonForce's Official Facebook *DragonForce's Official Twitter *DragonForce at Bebo.com *DragonForce's Official YouTube *DragonForce at Vimeo.com